Only My Mom Loves My Blog”: A Case Study
Part 1
No matter which way you’re generating passive income, you need to be seen as someone with the answers, who genuinely cares about your readers or followers. We’ve talked about natural, organic SEO. This is primarily the heart of your market position –
Here’s a fact:
You can manipulate the search engine results far less than you used to be able to, even three years ago – and that applies to both “black hat” techniques, or white
For example, a recent post on Problogger, “Why Nobody Cares About Your Blog”, unleashed a storm of comments (164 comments). The author, David Risley, was speaking of the importance of speaking to people, not at them. In page after page of answers, 3 common refrains repeated over and over again.
1. An overwhelming number admitted they had low to no traffic – many of them after genuinely diligent keyword research, original content, and several months’ (even years’) work invested
2. Another noticeable, if smaller, segment of this group had noticeably poor communication skills. It was no surprise they had a dismal lack of readership.
3. We can disregard this one, for our purposes: (Each commenter was writing a personal blog just for himself and wrote to say that he or she didn’t care if there was any traffic.)
Checking out several of these blogs, and found some total gems. Of these gems, however, 2 “themes” common to self-admitted “unsuccessful” bloggers emerged:
1. The blogger seems to have made no attempt other than SEO to position themselves to their target market – he or she was not linking to social media, did not have high Twitter or Facebook profiles – and were talking about things relating to their own needs and experiences, hoping to connect
2. Even though the blogger‟s content was superb, the niche he or she had chosen was far too broad. The chances of people finding them organically, as a result, were microscopically small.
Part 2 coming soon
Always Progressing…
p.s. Save Time and money and grab your copy of 7 Proven and Innovative Ways to Earn Passive Income.
The Easiest Way To Outsell Other Affiliates
Below you will find a guest article from Jimmy D. Brown, developer of the Mutiple Streams Theme wordpress blog theme.
For more information on turning on ten “built-in” ways to make money from your blog, visit http://www.infoprofitshare.com/go.php?offer=famlegacy&pid=45
The Easiest Way To Outsell Other Affiliates
If you’re an affiliate marketer, then you’re always looking over your shoulder to see if the competition – your fellow affiliates – are catching up to you. Or, worse than that, you’re looking up ahead trying to catch up with them!
At times any market can be crowded, so selling the same thing to the same group of people means you’re lucky to get just a small share of the market. Imagine having thirty-five Wal-Mart stores in one small town, all competing with each other to get the local business. You get the idea.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The easiest way to outsell other affiliates is this…
Turn your AFFILIATE offer into a UNIQUE offer!
You see, most affiliates try to sell the product as is. If your prospects are shopping around, they’re going to skip all the “buy from me” offers.
Instead, they’re going to focus on those offers that give them an incentive to buy. And that means you can outsell the other affiliates simply by offering a bonus product to anyone who buys through your affiliate link.
I’ve been teaching this concept since 2001 and, all things being equal, those affiliates who put this into practice will outsell those who don’t virtually 100% of the time.
It’s a very simple strategy. Let’s break it down into three steps…
Step 1: CHOOSE Your Incentive
Your goal is to make your offer stand out from the crowd by offering an incentive to buy from your link, thereby boosting your conversion rate. And that means you need to offer a bonus that enhances or otherwise complements the affiliate product.
Did you catch that? Your bonus should “enhance” or “complement” the product you are promoting as an affiliate. That’s what makes for the best incentive.
————- Case Study ———–
Let me give you a “real” case study (not made up … actually done by one of my customers).
A customer – who is also one of my affiliates – recently purchased my Multiple Streams Theme wordpress blog theme. He loaded it to his site. Then, he invested a little time writing a small report that teaches how to customize and tweak the theme. He offered this small report, filled with insider shortcuts and tips for enhancing the theme, as an incentive to anyone who ordered the Multiple Streams Theme through his affiliate link.
Brilliant.
I’m just guessing, but I bet the report didn’t take him half an hour to write. He just logged his own personal experiences. And yet it has high value to anyone who has plans to order the theme.
That’s how you outsell other affiliates. You turn your AFFILIATE offer into a UNIQUE OFFER.
————- Case Study ———–
One way to do this is by reading the sales letter for the product and choosing one particularly enticing bullet point.
Example #1: If the sales letter tells prospects they can learn how to get traffic from social media sites, then you can create a report called “27 Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Traffic to Any Website!”
Example #2: If the sales page for a diet book promises a month of low calorie recipes to customers, you can create a supplementary low calorie recipe book and give it away to those who buy from your link.
Example #3: If you’re promoting a dog training book and you see a bullet point about eliminating bad behaviors such as jumping, incessant barking, digging in the gardening, etc. You can create a report or even a video called, “The Secrets of Training the Perfect Dog: How to Keep Your Dog’s Paws Off Your Guests, Off Your Counters and Out of Your Garden!”
The point is, your freebie should be directly related to the affiliate offer. You want your prospects to buy through your link just because the incentive is so enticing.
What kind of incentive? You can do videos, software, coaching, advertising, installations, services, etc.
But, “pound for pound”, the best and easiest incentive to create is a small report.
Step 2: CREATE Your Incentive
Once you decide on the topic, your next step is to create the bonus product. If you’re creating a short report or video, you can probably finish it in one day. Otherwise, you can hire a trusted freelancer to do it, which frees your time to focus on marketing the offer!
Tip: You find ghostwriters on sites like WarriorForum.com, Elance.com, and GetAFreelancer.com. You can also ask for recommendations from your colleagues via your social networks or on business forums.
Step 3: CIRCULATE Your Incentive.
Finally, your last step is to promote your offer by letting prospects know that anyone who buys the affiliate product using your link will get the bonus product.
Let your list know. Tell your blog readers. Tweet about it. Purchase advertising. Distribute free marketing materials such as ezine articles. Mention it in sig files at forums. You know the drill.
Now, there are a few ways to deliver the product:
1. On the download page. If you’ve developed a relationship with the product vendor, he may agree to set up a special sales page that promotes the bonus plus a special download page so that customers can download it instantly after purchasing.
2. Manually. You can have customers forward their receipts and then you send them the link to the bonus.
3. Automatically. You can also set up a special email address with an autoresponder, so that anyone who sends you a receipt gets the download link automatically. (Naturally, some people will try to “cheat” this system.)
And there you have it – the simple three-step strategy you can use to outsell your competitors and put more money in your pocket.
It’s so easy you could be making more money by tomorrow… if you get started today!
Speaking of “making more money”. If you have a blog, how would you like to have ten “built-in” ways to increase your affiliate commissions from your blog? Visit http://www.infoprofitshare.com/go.php?offer=famlegacy&pid=45 to learn more. NOTE: The offer mentioned at the website will no longer be available after Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10PM. Jimmy is “retiring” it then and discontinuing all sales.
Out Side the Box with Information Products
Good Job! You are doing all those things your coach or the article you read said for you to do for promoting your information product online as a result your passive income has been slowly but surely increasing. However are you forgetting something? What about the people you see everyday?
- The grocery store
- The library
- The gym
- The radio station
- The hair salon
- The nail salon
These are your offline markets that you just might not be tapping.
Expensive ads are not even the best way. There are several ways reach your target market, offline as well as on.
For example, have you thought about simply including the link you want to drive them to on your business card, under your signature? DO you have a business card?
It takes seconds to put that link in your signature or resource box on press releases or letters you send to local papers, too. You do press releases correct? (Check out 24/7 PressRelease)
And don’t neglect your local store and community center bulletin board as a place to plant your flyers – with your product link in the tear off tags, as well as the usual phone number.
The Hidden Market – In Plain Sight
But there’ s one more way to get your name out, and capture an offline lead. Local organizations are always looking for guest speakers. See if there’s a “business startup” program that’s partially government-funded, or one that’s provided by another agency.
Find out the name of the contact person – all you have to do is phone the agency, or drop in and ask. Approach them, and offer to be a guest speaker on the subject of “marketing online” or “internet promotion”. Chances are, surprising as it may sound, they won’t have anyone in their number who can fulfill that function. They’ll most likely jump on your offer – especially if it’s free.
And all you do is hand out your business card at the end of your helpful seminar – with (you guessed it) your information product link below your signature.
Create Your Own Opportunities
That brings us to our last 2 offline promotion methods. Don’t waste the space on the back of that business card – fill it with a small ad for your product in the style of direct response ads, getting right to the point. (Add a coupon with a discount number so you can track how effective this method is)
And (especially if you live in a small town) be sure to phone your local radio station, and offer to be a guest. Have a one-page promotional bio page ready to fax or email them, if they ask.
Remember the purpose of the bio page is to tell them why you would be an interesting guest for their readers – and cut out anything else (except credentials you’d like to include.) Save anything else to when you are the guest and take in an introduction sheet or quick fact sheet re: you for the radio personality . You might think that it would be hard, getting a guest spot on a radio show, but the truth is, it’s more often not. People are always looking for interesting guests to fill up slots in a show, and they’re delighted when one who’s well-prepared walks through the door, for free.
But there’s one final tip about offline promotion that has served me better than any other. I take my motto from the boy scouts: “Always be prepared.” Always have those business cards tucked away in your pocket, wallet or purse. Carry a few extra in the car – and be ready to make your pitch, when asked.
After all, there’s no point going to all that trouble to beef up your business cards – if you forget to have them with you!
Always Progressing…
P.S. Do not forget to look in the mirror before you go out of the house, how you are dressed (like a bum or like a successful WAHM) and what you look like (need a comb/brush? need breath freshner?)makes a big impact on some people.
P.P.S Discover the 7 Proven and Innovative Ways to Earn Passive Income and get started on your way to an additional income.
We all have to start somewhere…
Introduction to selling information products. There is money if you do it right.
Research is Critical
Why research will make or break you in the information product business.